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A New Home for an Old Tree
A hundred year old tree has a new home in League City. The Ghirardi Compton Oak was relocated to the site of the future Ghirardi WaterSmart Park, and residents can now view the tree from Louisiana Street just across from Poppy Street.

The tree was set to be cut down to make room for improvements to Louisiana Avenue.The street project is a joint project of League City and Galveston County. Instead of cutting down the historic oak, League City City Council voted to have the tree relocated about 1,500 feet to parkland that is being developed into a water conservation education park.

The Relocation
Hess Landscape Construction Company handled all aspects of the relocation. The contractor started by hydrating, fertilizing, and pruning the tree. They also took soil samples from the current location and the new location.

For the excavation process they cut a trench around the tree, an engineered distance from the root ball. The sides of a tree box were hand carved and tapered down to create a custom planter box for the tree. Crews dug tunnels under the tree box so the bottom sections of the box could be installed, one by one.

Once all bottom sections were installed, four steel beams were placed under the bottom of the tree box and lifted by two cranes. The cranes placed the tree on a steel plate that was drug down a grass corridor to the new location. Two bulldozers and two excavators pulled the skid and one bulldozer controlled the back end. Once the tree arrived in its new location, the process was reversed.

A Piece of History
The Ghirardi Compton Oak has been a piece of League City's history for over 100 years. The tree stands 56 feet tall, has a canopy that is over 100 feet wide, and is 135 inches around. It also weighs an incredible 518,000 pounds. The project took them just under a month to complete.

Thanks to everyone involved, the Ghirardi Compton Oak will remain a piece of League City's history for many years to come. Watch the incredible process from start to finish in the video below.